Managing heritage site interpretation for older adult visitors

Abstract

An increasing silver tourists market generates challenges and opportunities for tourist destinations, heritage and tourist attractions that can be exploited by a professional interpretive experience which forges emotional and intellectual connections between the interests of the audience and the meanings inherent in the resource. In catering for senior visitors, managers of heritage sites at both the European as well at the global level, should not just focus on physical accessibility but also on the intellectual and socio-cultural needs of the older generations around the world. Heritage sites and museums are not necessarily simply spaces in which memories are reconstructed; they are settings where visitors come to negotiate cultural meanings.